California's Native Americans
- resource collection developed by Mrs. Cary Stolpestad, Nov. 2004 (updated 12.17.12)

ACHUMAWI

Achumawi means "River People" who live near the Pit River.  There are eleven bands of the Achumawi tribe, who have traditionally occupied lands along the Pit River in the far northeastern part of California. This region, from Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak to the Warner Range, has a tremendous ecological diversity yielding a huge variety of foods, medicines, and raw materials.  They depended on fish and other river resources to survive, as well as on acorns and other vegetables naturally growing in the river valleys. In the 1800’s around 3,000 Achumawi lived in California. There were about nine tribelets.  Today there are around 1,800 tribal members still living in their tribal area.

CAHUILLA (also known as Agua Caliente)

The Cahuilla Indians historically occupied an area around the modern day city of Palm Springs.  With abundant water supply, plant and animal life, the Cahuilla Indians thrived.  They grew crops of melons, squash, beans, and corn, gathered plants and seeds for food, medicines and basket weaving, and hunted animals.   They created painted rock art, had homes with pits-like foundations, and engineered and built irrigation ditches, dams, and reservoirs.  The Cahuilla Agua Caliente Indians were industrious and creative with a reputation for independence, integrity, and peace.

CHUMASH INDIANS

These Indian people originally occupied lands in southern California in the area of present-day Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties.  The Coastal Chumash were living in their traditional territory by approximately 1000 A.D. Traditionally, they lived in villages along the Pacific coast from San Luis Obispo to Malibu Canyon and inland as far as the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley.  Their traditional language is no longer spoken (the last native speaker of a Chumash language died in 1965), but was one of five closely related Hokan languages. Those along the coast obtained their food mainly from the sea, for which they developed sea-going canoes.  They were the only California tribe to depend largely on ocean fishing for subsistence.  The Chumash are known for their technological skill in constructing ocean-going canoes. They hunted on and around the Channel Islands as well as along the coast.  The Chumash Tribe is also known for its aesthetic contributions in the form of baskets and shell and steatite objects. The Chumash population was as high as 22,000, yet due to diseases brought by the Spanish in the 1700’s reduced their population to 2,788.

COSTANOAN (also known as Ohlone)

GABRIELINO (Tongva)

The Gabrielinos once inhabited all of Los Angeles County and northern parts of Orange County.  There were an estimated 5,000 Gabrielinos in this region in the 1700’s.  There are 31 known village sites and each had as many as 400 to 500 huts.  A chief ruled over each village.

Gabrielinos held religious ceremonies in a circular structure within the village.  The structure could only be entered by select males of status in the community and close relatives in the event of funerary ceremonies. Female singers were also allowed.

Gabrielinos rarely had wars with other tribes and robbery or murder was rare as well.

HUPA

The Hupa tribe traditionally occupied lands in the far northwestern corner of California, along the lower Trinity River and in the Hoopa Valley.  Their self-designation was Natinook-wa, "People of the Place Where the Trails Return.”  Hupa is from the Yurok language for the Hoopa Valley.  The Hupa were culturally related to the Yurok and the Karuk tribes to the north.  Their diet and way of life centered around the semiannual king salmon runs that occur on the Trinity River in the heart of their tribal territory.  Being fairly isolated, the Hupa had little contact with non-Indians until the mid-1800’s.

Research websites:

MIWOK

The Miwok lived in over 100 villages along the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers.  The Miwok traditional territory was in the Sierra Nevada foothills of the central part of California.  Their food supplies included salmon fishing. They all also ate acorns and game. In the 1700’s there were around 22,000 Miwok. There are about 3,500 Miwok people today.

MOJAVE (MOHAVE)

This group of Indians traditionally occupied about 200 miles of land along the Colorado River from present-day Hoover Dam down to the city of Blythe, as well as a large inland region to the west of the river.  The Mojave survived as desert farmers, using the floodwaters of the Colorado River.  They depended on fishing, hunting, and trapping, and on the mesquite bean for food.  Today there are around 3,000 Mojave people still alive.

PAIUTE

Paiute Indians inhabited the Mono Lake region and the areas south to present day Bishop, Big Pine, and Lone Pine.  They were called the Kutzadika'a People. They made their living by hunting and gathering.  Today there are around 2,200 Paiutes living in the traditional tribal areas. 

POMO

The Pomo people are from northwestern California, where many still occupy their ancestral lands.  Pomo-speaking people have traditionally occupied land about 50 miles north of San Francisco Bay, on the coast and inland, especially around Clear Lake and the Russian River, in what is now Mendocino , Sonoma, and Lake counties.  Along the Pacific coast they fished and gathered shellfish, and also relied on acorns and game for food. Along the rivers they caught king salmon.  In the early 1800’s there were roughly 15,000 Pomo. Today there are approximately 5,000 Pomo people. 

Research websites: 

SALINAN

These people traditionally lived along the south-central California coast, inland to the mountains.  In the late 1700’s there were approximately 3,000 Salinan Indians, with several hundred descendants alive today. The religion of the Salinan involved offering prayers to the golden eagle, the sun, and the moon. Shamans controlled the weather.  The Salinan were governed by the Aak'letse, or village headwoman.

SHASTA

>The Indians called the Shasta people traditionally lived in the northernmost part of California (Siskyou County) and southern Oregon (Jackson and Klamath Counties).  The Shasta were one of four Shastan tribes, the others being Konomihu, Okwanuchu, and New River Shasta.  For food, they depended on the semiannual king salmon runs along the major rivers of their territory, as well as on acorns and game. In the 1700’s there were around 3,000 Shastas. Today there are around 100 Shasta people living on the Quartz Valley Reservation in Siskyou County, and some in Yreka, California.

Research websites:

YOKUTS

The Yokuts people traditionally occupied the San Joaquin Valley and foothills in the central part of California.  Their diets consisted of king salmon along the major rivers, along with eating fish, acorns, and game.  In the foothills, acorns were the principal food source, with other plant foods and game playing a secondary role. In the 1700’s there were between 18,000 and 50,000 Yokuts, one of the highest regional population of Indians in North America. Today there are about 2,000 Yokuts still. 

Research websites:

YUROK

The Yurok Indian people traditionally lived in the far northwestern corner of California, along the lower Klamath River and on the Pacific Coast near its mouth. The Yurok survived in a variety of ways, from coastal-tideland gathering of fish and shellfish, to salmon fishing along the major rivers in the area, to the gathering of plants and killing of game.  The Yurok population was roughly 3,000 in the early the 1700’s. 

Research websites:

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